Publishing

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Aurora Rhapsody In Numbers & Pictures

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Aurora Rhapsody In Numbers & Pictures

After more than a million words, how does one begin to capture the essence of the Aurora Rhapsody saga in a mere few hundred? Three years, 9 months and 10 days ago, I promised to the world that it would be "an epic tale of galaxy-spanning adventure, of the thrill of discovery and the unquenchable desire to reach ever farther into the unknown. It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible." I hope it has become all those things and much more.

Aurora Rhapsody is science fiction, an imagined future, space opera, adventure, mystery, romance, action. It's exploration of space and exploration of what it means to be human. What it means to be alive. It's love and lasers, battles with the characters' internal demons and star-exploding space battles. It's an optimistic vision that dares to believe humanity will prove to be both stronger and better than we believe ourselves to be today. It is, I suspect, something different for each one of you. It can't be defined by numbers, but what the hell - I will anyway.

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Behind the Scenes With This Writer, Aurora Rhapsody - and DISSONANCE

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Behind the Scenes With This Writer, Aurora Rhapsody - and DISSONANCE

We're going to mix things up a bit this time. As I mention below, Dissonance is a Pivot Point, and that means this is a great time to pause and take stock for a minute.

A mere two years ago, I wrote a little blog post called “Asking Less (and More) of Others.” (Aside: Best, most insane two years of my life). To all of you who arrived a little later as a result of promotion efforts, or simply because you found and enjoyed my novels, a most sincere welcome. I’m truly glad I deserved it.

You know what the most wonderful thing is, now, two years later?

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The Revolution

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The Revolution

The Author's Note in Sidespace got a shiny new coat of paint for Aurora Renegades. Among a few other things, in it I say the following:

Sidespace was an independently published novel, written by one person and worked on by a small team of colleagues. Right now there are thousands of writers out there chasing this same dream.

Go to Amazon and surf until you find an author you like the sound of. Take a small chance with a few dollars and a few hours of your time. In doing so, you may be changing those authors’ lives by giving visibility to people who until recently were shut out of publishing, but who have something they need to say. It’s a revolution, and it’s waiting on you.

In the spirit of the Author's Note, Thanksgiving and the impending Christmas, Hannukah and New Years, I want to take the opportunity to express my thanks for the success I've enjoyed by spotlighting other authors.

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A Confession, A Reveal, and A Promise

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A Confession, A Reveal, and A Promise

I am a bad person.

Now, hopefully this will come as a surprise to most of you. Some of you, perhaps not so much ;).

MY CONFESSION: After Starshine was published, amidst much angst over its cliffhanger ending, I said the following: “Aurora Rising is the story. Starshine represents Act I in what is, in effect, a 3-act play in novel form.”

It wasn’t a lie—but it also wasn’t the entirety of the truth. It was very important to me that Aurora Rising be a self-contained, fulfilling story that will forever stand on its own. Aside from the obvious reasons, early on I didn’t know if I’d have the time, finances or will to continue writing beyond it. But after a year and thanks to all you amazing people the three novels of the Aurora Rising trilogy have—from my perspective—done phenomenally well both in sales and in critical praise from the readers. By any standards I can find, Hypernova Publishing and the Aurora Rising trilogy are blockbusters in the indie publishing world and there is no way I am going to stop now.

So here’s the entirety of the truth.

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The Long Way Around to a Book in Your Hands

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The Long Way Around to a Book in Your Hands

I know you guys are sitting there looking at Transcendence’s full word meter and wondering why the heck the book isn't out yet—a perfectly valid and understandable question.*

So I thought it would be fun (for me, hopefully for you-I promise there is humor) to walk through how my books get from idea to publication. Every person’s process is different and intensely personal to them, but this one is my own.

 

1.  Outline the outlines (aka, make pretty graphs)

I spend a lot of time outlining, and in different ways:

  • What happens in what order?
  • What happens where in what order?
  • What happens to whom in what order?

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Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything ) Transcript

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Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything ) Transcript

I was honored to be invited to host an AMA on Reddit's /r/suggestmeabook and /r/sciencefiction last month. I had a terrific time chatting with everyone and hopefully provided some interesting answers to their questions.

In case you missed it, here is the transcript of the AMA, unaltered except for formatting and specific-to-Reddit details. It includes more details on my writing process, thoughts about writing and publishing, and juicy tidbits about Aurora Rising than I could ever consciously fit in one blog post, so I hope you enjoy!